New Homeland series heads list of dramas on summer TV

Michael Lallo

TERRIBLE sitcoms, cheap lifestyle shows and leftover episodes of axed programs: welcome to summer TV. Traditionally, December and January are bereft of good (non-sport) viewing. But this year things are looking up.

Channel Ten is leading the way with new episodes of acclaimed terrorist drama Homeland; it's hoping to start 2013 on a good note after a year of failed programs and staff cuts.

Ten fast-tracked Homeland's season two premiere in October but it bombed against House Husbands on Nine. Diehard fans, it seemed, could not wait the 12 days between the US and Australian screenings.

David Knox, the editor of television blog TV Tonight, says: ''Homeland continues its riveting cat and mouse plot moves. Just when you think it must be done, it detours down desperate roads that up the stakes. Brilliant.''

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Ten will also screen new episodes of American Idol, featuring The Voice defector Keith Urban as a judge.

Ten will also screen new episodes of Merlin, Burn Notice, Jamie's 15 Minute Meals, White Collar, Ben and Kate and The New Normal, which is from Glee creator Ryan Murphy.

With The Simpsons repeats back at 6pm, Ten's panel show The Project has moved to 6.30pm and will continue over summer without Dave Hughes, who is taking a break.

Having won the 2012 ratings crown, Channel Seven is keeping its powder dry until next year's ratings season begins. Only a handful of first-run programs will screen over summer - nearly all reality shows, including Border Patrol, the US version of The Amazing Race, Coastwatch, Nazi Hunters and Property Ladder.

After a ratings resurgence this year, Channel Nine is also keeping its cards close to its chest, airing just one first-run sitcom: season two of pleasant but unchallenging Mike & Molly. Other new shows include the excellent US version of Who Do You Think You Are? and the 25th season of the tired Survivor franchise. Sister channel Gem, however, is worth watching for new episodes of Weeds, a cleverly crafted series about a pot-dealing suburban mum, and Knox's pick, The Big C, starring Laura Linney.

Comfort food and sentimental British drama dominate ABC1's summer line-up, including new episodes of Rick Stein's Spanish Christmas, a Christmas special from Nigella Lawson and Maggie Beer's Christmas Feast.

Among Aunty's first-run summer dramas are Young James Herriot, based on the late British celebrity vet, The Pillars of the Earth, adapted from the Ken Follett novel, Upstairs Downstairs and Rev. The most keenly anticipated, however, is the second season of The Hour, set in a London television newsroom in the mid-1950s.

Knox also recommends Next Stop Hollywood, a reality series that follows six aspiring Aussie actors during pilot season in Los Angeles. But his top summer choice is Hit and Miss, tucked away on ABC2. Made by Shameless creator Paul Abbott, it stars Chloe Sevigny as a transgender contract killer. ''It's simply the most underrated show on the box right now,'' Knox says.